Today's harvest and more musings

Let's start with those gorgeous brown eggs. Collected 5 of them today..apparently one of the girls is slacking a bit! We have 6 Golden Comet hens and we usually get an egg from each of them. We'll let this slide today, but those girls will have to answer to me if there are only 5 out there again tomorrow! lol

I had to go out and harvest the spinach today as it was getting near the end of its time. We have enjoyed it in our salads for the past few weeks, but now was time to freeze it up. I got about 2 1/2 quarts of frozen spinach from that pile. I freeze it in 10 oz sizes as that is the usual size most of my recipes call for.

This has been an odd growing season. The weather has been all topsy turvy but my gardens don't seem to mind. Everything is growing gangbusters. I think I have about one more week of lettuce and that, too, will be done. Time to throw some different seeds in these empty spots!

Getting ready to go sew for a bit..not sure on what, though. I have been still ruminating on what makes me a quilter. I did come up with a few more bits and pieces of what attracts me to it. Here is what else I came up with:

Frugality. I love being a tightwad pennypincher!! There is nothing I get more satisfaction from then making something from nothing or repurposing something I already have. I am trying to get my family more and more self sufficient (hence the gardens and chickens), and quilting fits right into this. Our big dream is to have a place that is powered by alternative energy, grow our own food, etc. I swear I was born in the wrong century. Quilting not only gives me something creative to do in my spare time, it saves me money by keeping me home and busy ( I rarely spend lots of money on fabric...again, I love the bargain! I do admit I go on a binge once in awhile and spend about $50 at a pop, but that isn't often), saves me money by keeping us warm ( our house is chilly in the winter as I keep the thermostat LOW), saves me money on gift buying as folks will generally get a quilt from me..especially for those big, expensive gift events like weddings, saves me money on home decorating and can earn me money if I wanted to sell any of my quilts. Wow..a whole lotta goodness wrapped up in quilting!!

Compassion and doing for others. I know this sounds odd, but quilting is teaching my children a valuable lesson about these two things. A good majority of quilts I make are gifted. I call them that because I really don't care for the word "donate". Donate, to me, sounds like something I want to get rid of, or giving away something just because I have excess. Gift, to me, is something I give to someone out of love..pure and simple. So, I gift quilts..not donate them. I try to avoid gifting to organizations (though there are many WONDERFUL ones and I have gifted to them) because I prefer to hand them to someone. So they can see in my face that this IS a gift of love. That I treasure them and am thankful I have met them and have been able to create this gift for them. I tell them that while I didn't know them personally when I made this quilt, I prayed about the person that would be getting it..them..and that I hope when they use it, they will know that someone out there is STILL thinking about and praying for them. My children see this and know that being part of God's world..this world.. isn't about doing something for others "later"..or when you have time. Sheesh..I don't have the time..do you?? It's about doing something..anything..NOW..simply because you can and someone out there needs you. Pretty simple.

Well, I have gone on long enough and I am sure I am the only one still reading this at this point, but that is okay. I am beginning to learn a lot about myself.

Off to stitch..will post later on that!